Netflix’s The Ultimatum is like Married at First Sight on steroids. The concept of the show is about six couples who are on the rocks because of an ultimatum who get the chance to flirt and then live with each other’s partners for three weeks. Where is the show set?
Where did the concept of The Ultimatum come from?
The show is hosted by married couple Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who shared that they had a break and each dated one other person before they realized that they were in it for life with each other.
The idea is that this experience gives the couples a chance to see if the grass is greener somewhere else and if they really want to stick it out with their original partner. After the trial “marriage” with a stranger is over, they have to live with their partner for three weeks.
Where is the show filmed?
It never explicitly states which city the couples are swapping partners in, but The Ulimatum is filmed in Austin Texas at two downtown hotels: Marriott Downtown and Aloft Austin Downtown. The rooftop bar they are filmed mingling at by the pool is the Zanzibar at the Marriott, and they later meet again at The Lobbyist in the Marriott. They also stay at the Marriott during the first phase of the show.
For the second phase of the show, the remixed couples move in together for three weeks in suites at the Aloft Austin Downtown where they run the risk of running into their significant other in the hallways. After the trial period, they move back in with their original partner at the Aloft.
Why all the metal stemware and glasses
Part of the fun of messy reality shows is that you get to see what the people are drinking. This is jarringly out of reach with The Ultimatum because no matter what they’re always drinking out of gray metal glasses(*). Unfortunately, they don’t have metal champagne flutes, so they have to drink their champagne out of large, bulky metal wine glasses that will reduce the satisfying fizz considerably. Still, the metal beverage glassware is interesting to look at and put a kind of branding on the show that makes you feel like you’re in a slightly alternate universe.
This interesting choice isn’t from the hotels they’re staying at. It comes from The Ultimatum’s sister Netflix show Love is Blind, which features gold wine glasses from the same brand: Von Shef (*).
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